Saturday, July 21, 2012

Daily Telegraph declares the Galilee Judenfrei....

The following letter I just wrote to the Daily Telegraph is self-explanatory:

The full page article on Syria (by Richard Spencer) that appears on page 25 of the Telegraph (20 July 2012) contains the following statement in the opening paragraph about Syria's neighbours:
...sweeping down towards Lake Galilee and the surrounding plain, beloved of the religious, of tourists and of its Israeli Arab occupants.
I  think we are entitled to an explanation as to why Richard Spencer wants his readers to believe that either there are no Israeli Jews in the Galilee region of Israel or, the ones that are there do not love their homeland like the Arab citizens. In fact, while the population of the Galilee region as a whole is about 50% Jewish according to most recent census figures, the region around Lake Galilee is almost 100% Jewish.

I do not believe that Richard Spencer is an anti-Semite, but it is clear he has fallen casually into the trap of deligitimization of Israel which is being ruthlessly pursued by people who are pure anti-Semites.  A core part of the agenda of these anti-Semites is to construct a narrative in which Jews never had any physical attachment to the land of Israel and that only Arabs are the 'true' citizens. 
On a related note, Daniel Greenfield has an outstanding article deconstructing the myth of Israeli 'settlements'.

1 comment:

richard said...

See recent article in Jerusalem Post by Arab Israeli woman who calls for Arab Israelis to enlist in the Israeli army. I think many Arab Israelis are quite happy to live in the Jewish state. It's just that not many can admit it. Thanks for this.